The annual college forum for Spring 2017, held in Griffin Gate March 10, was rechristened the Planning-To-Implementation Forum. This name change reflects the change in focus across the college from the last year of reflection and preparation--which resulted in our new college Strategic Plan--to how we are going to achieve the strategic goals through our actions. The presentations by Student Success and Equity Dean Lida Rafia, College Planning and Institutional Effectiveness Sr. Dean Aaron Starck and College President Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh outlined the Strategic Plan goals. Presentations by College Outreach Coordinator Heriberto Vasquez, Associate Dean of Student Affairs Sara Varghese and History Professor Sue Gonda, and Professional Development Co-Coordinator Micah Jendian gave updates on work that has already begun. Attendees from Academic, Administrative and Student Services units were asked to share out the actions they already take in their areas to enhance student success via Outreach, Engagement and Retention, and Institutional Capacity and to brainstorm on additional actions they plan to begin.
If you missed the event or wish to review, the slide show presentation is available here: Spring 17 Planning To Implementation Forum Presentation.
Conversations will continue within and among all areas around campus in the coming months to define activities and coordinate action plans.
The annual college planning forum for Spring 2016 was held on Friday, March 4. This year’s focus aligned with new initiatives based on the college’s participation in Achieving the Dream (AtD), a national reform network focused on improving the success of community college students. Attendees reviewed the recent history of AtD efforts since the college joined the network in fall 2015, and participated in breakout sessions focused on the college’s AtD initiatives, including outreach, student engagement and retention. A strategic plan is currently being created in parallel with the college’s AtD plan, and the strategic plan will go through consultation with Planning & Resources Council and Academic Senate before going to the governing board for approval.
Presentation Slide show: The process of Strategic Planning at Grossmont has been ongoing for some time and the overall themes than college needs to focus on as a result of many events and discussions are presented here.
Timeline of College Discussions on Student Success and Equity: This document lays out the events and discussions that have contributed to formulating the current approach to Strategic Planning and integration of Achieving the Dream with ongoing college planning efforts.
Grossmont College Campus-Wide Alignment Efforts: A grid showing the major college initiatives and what areas they already address. The goal of this document is to show where we can leverage these existing efforts to address the themes that AtD and the strategic planning process have targeted.
Achieving the Dream--Impacting Student Success: A one-page flyer showing the work that has been done so far with AtD, which lays out the major areas of focus that have resulted from the process.
Student Focus Groups 2014: The results of student focus groups is part of the data used to inform the Achieving the Dream and Strategic Plan goals.
Achieving the Dream--World Cafe Themes: The results of the World Cafe event held at Grossmont College October 18, 2015 to get input from faculty, staff and students on the causes of the problems our students have and possible solutions for them. These themes have been used to inform the Achieving the Dream and Strategic Plan goals.
Bringing the Big Projects Together: Achieving the Dream's standard process for using a Four Component approach to using data to plan how we can tackle the college's most important challenges.
Most of the Planning Forum was spent in discussion among tables on the three focus areas of the Strategic Plan--Outreach, Retention and Engagement. Each table reported out to the larger group on their discussions and these comments were captured on large poster paper sheets for summarization by event organizers.
The 2015 Planning Forum was held at Grossmont College on April 17, 2015 in Griffin Gate.
Slide Show Presentation
Student Focus Group Results Handout
Outcomes of Planning Forum
Planning Forum Evaluation and Evaluation Results
Yes, we evaluated ourselves to see if the goals of the forum were met and what feedback people had about the event itself.